Working with cubes
A cube is a multidimensional data structure that is optimized for analysis and reporting. A cube can exist as part of a data object that contains at least one data set. A BIRT data object can contain many data sets and many cubes. In Report Studio, you use a cube to create a cross tab design.
A cube organizes data into dimensions and measures as follows:
*Measures represent values that are counted or aggregated, such as costs or units of products.
*Dimensions are categories, such as products, customers, or sales periods, used to aggregate measures. Dimensions can be hierarchical and contain multiple levels. For example, a region dimension can contain a region‑country‑state hierarchy. Similarly, a time dimension can contain a year‑quarter‑month-week hierarchy. Most cubes include a time dimension because, for most reports, showing measures by day, week, month, quarter, or year is essential to analyzing data.